20 Excellent Examples of Retro Logo Designs

Logo Love

The logo is the visual face of the company. It doesn’t just tell you the company’s name; it helps to give you an idea of the style, tone and personality of the brand behind it. The way in which a logo is designed can affect how the company is perceived – even on a very subtle level – and great designers can make use of that brilliantly.

I’ve always been impressed by logos that manage to create an elegant, stylish and retro look. A vintage style logo can be such a difficult style to pull off, and usually involves a tremendous amount of work around getting the typography just right. This is where hand-drawn scripts come in really well, as retro logos often make use of custom, hand-written lettering – or heavily adapted typefaces. Other elements that are common to retro logo designs include the use of textures to add a level of grain or noise to the artwork. Often, shapes such as ribbons and circles to create a badge effect can help to add a nostalgic air to a design.

I’ve collected some of my favourite examples of logo designs that all make use of a vintage or retro effect, and have a touch of elegance to them as a result. If you’re about to start working on a retro design, I hope this collection helps to give you some creative ideas. And of course, if you know of any logo designs that should have been included in this post, I’d love to hear about them in the comments.